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2009-09-22 - In Your Face Interview
Johan Olsson was interviewed on September 22, 2009 by German website In Your Face. Topics discussed were the bands sound, the first album and success. The interview was done by Timo Winter. Script Q: 'Your first album sounds like a mixture of metal and pop and seems to be very successful. How satisfied are you with the outcome?' Johan Olsson: Very satisfied! An album is never the way you had intended before - both in good and in the bad sense. There are always things that go better than you expected and things that go worse. It's all part of the process and you never know really how it ends. Especially if you have a more pop/rock producer, which provides more input and ideas, as all band members have ever had. It takes time until you throw some of his precisely elaborated visions overboard and see things from a different perspective - one that is perhaps much better in some cases. I mean, there are always a lot of desires and egos, which are involved in the development process of an album - not matter what band it is. But I think we have the perfect mix of the found, what you've described. Q: 'How long did it because it take you to write the album and how long you were in the studio?' Johan Olsson: Some songs were there for years. I think Losing You for example, is three years old and therefore also differs greatly. Some songs are just barely a year old, so it's a great mix of time and space in this album. Pontus had some songs already written when there wasn't even a band. I Found Myself In You is the oldest song, I think. It as ols as seven years. If it was a child it would go to school now! Q: 'The first single Losing You is obviously a song about a broken relationship. Is it a true story or fictitious?' Johan Olsson: All lyrics are more or less originated from real life. We all can find things in the lyrics that affect us and Pontus don't want to get into it, what the lyrics are in detail. I agree completely with him as agreed! If you tell what a text precisely rotates, you destroy the vision that one sees in his mind's eye, when you listen to the song. The images that you see, and you connect with your own feelings and memories - that's what it can be for you. If I would say that it is completely made up or that it is about something completely different, I would destroy these images for the listener. The lyrics are of what you see in it, if you listen to the songs. They belong to you - do so and think about what comes to mind. Q: 'What songs you like most?' Johan Olsson: I, of course, like everyone, but my personal favorites are Promise Me, What Can I Say and Angels Of Clarity. Live it's the harder songs for me; with the metal riffs like Angels Of Clarity and Stronger. Q: 'You've been linked to Linkin Park - a really successful band. But if I listen to the song just now mentioned ''Angels Of Clarity, I can not understand this comparison. Your metal influences appears to be much greater. What do you think of this comparison?' '''Johan Olsson': Of course it's flattering to be compared to known and big bands, and people are always looking for bands with which they can compare new bands. We have already been compared to pretty much every band on the planet, or to put it better, it feels like. That's a big cliché in the world of music but I think we are a very individual band. We will never be compared only with a band; it's more like "Well - if you mix Linkin Park with In Flames and a bit Atreyu paired with a lot of pop influences, as well as one or the other rock band and eventually some boyband melodies it packs up..." That to me is diagonally right, because there is no mixture, but something else. Do you know what I mean? When mixing two colors, but also has a third and new color. When red and green mixed together, but no one says that there are mixed red and green ... no, it is called brown. But in the world of music, people tend to speak of the wildest color mixtures. Of course, people need something that allows you to connect the music in order to understand to what style is and I respect that. I just think that a lot of good music in these comparisons and the genre bullshit goes down. Q: 'Your album did indeed enter in Sweden the same time at #2 on the charts just behind Green Day. Do you think you will have a similar success in Germany?' Johan Olsson: That's really hard to say, but we would of course be thrilled if we would get the same encouragement in Germany. However, one must not forget that we have been working really hard the last few years in Sweden and that we were one of the greatest underground bands even before we signed a contract and that's the path that you go as hard rock band and usually also should. You have to build up slowly. We just had a big hit when our first single Losing You landed in Sweden and that opened a lot of doors like for performances and that. When it's so regarded and we end up in Germany with a hit, of course, nothing is impossible. Q: 'I have read in advance a pretty funny story: Is it true that Pontus Hjelm had problems with performance anxiety and that he didn't want to play any live shows?' Johan Olsson: Some time ago, it was much worse; While it's getting better, he's still very nervous! Now it's actually quite funny and sometimes it gets really nasty, but at the beginning he was right and did panic at all to go on stage. But if he is first on stage, everything is natural passing. He's the one in the band who had hardly played any live shows before Dead By April. The rest of us has been around the youth constantly on tour or played live. Q: 'Some of you have played together already in the band Nightrage. On your Wikipedia page you can read that also Henric Carlsson is a former member of Dead By April. What has happened since? Why did he leave the band?' Johan Olsson: Yeah, Jimmie, Alex and Henric played in Nightrage before Dead By April. They all belonged to the first lineup of Dead By April, only a project then and yet not a full band. When the band then made progress, Henric left his longtime friend Marcus his place. For Henric, it was important to take care of his family and his job. He had a baby recently and could not keep up with our rehearsal room activities and performances without leaving his family life in the lurch. It really hit him that he had to go, but I think he has made the right choice in this situation, because otherwise his family life would nowadays probably look very different. Q:' Do you know by chance something about why almost all the band members Nightrage left in 2007?' Johan Olsson: I have no idea, but after what I've heard, there was no bad blood or something like that. They only had the feeling that they wanted to do something different. Nor are they all gone at the same time - Nightrage is the band of Mario and they all wanted to try something different, I think. Q:' 'Your band seems indeed a good example of this phenomenon to be Myspace: Some time ago you didn't even had an album out, but still you were very successful. Do you think that Myspace is a good promotional tool for young bands? And you think that this way can be successful even for a band of the never seen or heard before? Johan Olsson: Of course, Myspace is a great tool for bands to reach people. I mean, you have the same opportunities as a major band in the sense that two is a MySpace page available. The same basis and the rules are basically the same - that of course applies to this forum only. The other side is that you have to realize that there is only one side. Even if it is one of the largest, that does not not mean that people automatically come to your shows or that you deserve a penny of your music. It just gives you the opportunity to reach people who will help you on the long road, just like all the other sites that there are so, and just like the kids who support you with posters, flyers or radio shows. The course is part of them just so I think if you want to transfer the MySpace success in "real" people who come to the shows, you just have to try everything to promote his band and in a proper way make, so you afterwards can also be proud of! Q:' 'One main question nowadays is probably how it will go with the music industry. What do you think will happen in the future? Do you think it - will still be a decade plates, or all boils down to digital downloads addition - let's say? Do you think that you will write in the future complete albums or it will be only a few songs? Johan Olsson: As long as there are musicians who make the music, there will also be people who hear and consume; as long as there are consumers, there will also be opportunities to benefit from it; as long as there are people who can benefit from the consumer, there will be many things to the music, making it business and so long as there is a "music business", everything will repeat. Of course, it's the way you consume the product, and change the form of songs, merchandise, albums and so on will also change, but as long as there is this fundamental principle, nothing will really change and seriously. There will be only different shades of one color. I personally believe that the music business is much healthier today than it has ever been - could not care less what many believe artists and labels. It was in recent years a monopoly of those who had their foot already in the business - have the relationships and the right opportunities to get their music to sell and promote. With every day that passes, more and more of it transferred to the band and to what she wants with it. Just as I talked about Myspace, everyone gets a chance at a much broader perspective and that's how I feel much healthier for the music itself, but may not be for the industry. After all that I am, of course, continues to be a musician and not a businessman, maybe it would not be quite as Lars Ulrich as much as I do. Q:' 'What are your plans for the future? Do you see yourself more as a project or as a band? Johan Olsson: We will go on with what we do and only the future can tell what will happen. The band is for each of us what we focus on. We all have some other things in addition to the band, but Dead By April is and will always be our main thing. Q:' 'Your last words? Johan Olsson: Thanks for your time and thank you for reading this interview. I hope we'll see you when we get to Germany the next time! Peace!